It’s easy to like Audie Murphy’s later Westerns. He was, almost single-handed, carrying 50s Westerns into the 60s after most cowboy stars had retired or defected to TV. (Murphy had tried television, too, with Whispering Smith.) And he was working on these later films with the likes of William Witney, R.G. Springsteen and Lesley Selander, directors responsible for not only a lot of good pictures, but for the genre as we know it.
Apache Rifles (1964) — an action-filled story of an Indian-hating cavalry officer who has a change of heart when he meets a half-breed missionary — was making the rounds about the same time A Fistful Of Dollars was in production in Italy and Spain. The times they were a-changin’. And pictures like Apache Rifles would soon be almost extinct — short, tough (American) Westerns created by seasoned professionals with utmost efficiently.
Utmost efficiency indeed. One of the real pleasures of Apache Rifles is watching all the pros at work. William Witney with his usual mastery of low-budget filmmaking, especially the action sequences. A tight script by TV Western specialist Charles B. Smith. And solid performances by a cast of veterans at this type of thing: Murphy, Michael Dante, L.Q. Jones, Linda Lawson, etc. This is not to say that the picture succeeds only as a curio — “one of the last of a dying breed” or some sort of cinematic swan song for its participants. It works like so many similar films did before it. If you like medium-budget Westerns, or Audie Murphy pictures, there’s plenty to like here.
There’s also plenty to like with the new DVD from Kit Parker Films and VCI Entertainment. Most important, of course, is the film itself. Apache Rifles has been well served. The transfer is sharp and clean, but without so much digital knob-twiddling it doesn’t look like film anymore. The (DeLuxe) color is a bit muted, but there’s no fading. Grain is evident — and that’s a good thing. The audio’s fine, with a tolerable amount of hiss (that’s probably been there since 1964).
But where the DVD really excels is in its supplemental material. There are short pieces on Witney and the Lone Pine Museum, a still gallery and a longer documentary on Apache Rifles and the end of the conventional Western. It’s always good to see a smaller picture get this kind of attention — and I’m sure we can all come up with a list of dozens more we’d like to see treated this respectfully.
Cheers Toby. I’ve had this one sitting on my “to watch” pile for a week or two now, but haven’t gotten around to actually doing so yet.
Murphy’s later westerns are a bit of a mixed bag for me. I recently watched Bullet for a Badman, which I liked quite a lot and Arizona Raiders, which I thought was a bit flat.
Have you seen 6 Black Horses? It certainly benefits from Burt Kennedy working on it.
Yes, I have seen it. In fact, I have the (rather disappointing) Dutch DVD issued by Universal. I did enjoy it, and that’s probably for the reason you mention – once you’ve seen a few Burt Kennedy scripted vehicles you can recognize his stuff easily. And it’s got Dan Duryea in it too, of course.
One of the real pleasures of working on this book so far is the chance to watch a lot of Dan Duryea and Arthur Kennedy. Those two are incredible.
Speaking of Kennedy, I’d trade my car for a perfect DVD of The Naked Dawn — a picture that really seems to divide people.
As a later Murphy “Hell Bent For Leather” is brilliant and
one of his best pictures.
Toby: please try to interview Jan Merlin in your book,
although he did not do a great deal of Western movies his
T.V. Western credits are formidible.He must have some great insights into working with Murphy and at Universal in
the Fifties in particular.
In any case he is one of the last of the remaining great
“badass” Western character actors still around.
I recently was fortunate enough to purchase the German
Koch Media version of “Hell Bent For Leather” and its a
stunning transfer;well worth seeking out! Merlin is a
chilling heavy in this one;he also worked with Audie on
“Gunfight At Comanche Creek” and on “The Blind Gun” one
of the very best “Whispering Smith” episodes.
John, you’re quite right about that German release of Hell Bent for Leather – a first class transfer that I heartily recommend too.
Colin, I saw the screencaps that you provided on an
earlier post for the German edition of “Border River” and
they looked fantastic.I have had great problems locating
the DVD as it would seem to be out of print.It is still available in Spain but like I said before these German
editions do seem to go the extra mile.
Unfortunately Koch Media seem to be concentrating on
Westerns from Europe at the moment and are about to
release “Shoot Out” a terrible film and by far Henry
Hathaways worst Western.
I highly recommend the Koch versions of “Chief Crazy Horse”,”Pillars Of The Sky”,”Comanche Territory” and
“Ride A Crooked Trail” though I am sure Colin,that you have
these titles already.I have also ordered “Battle At Apache Pass” which I am looking forward to.
I do hope at some point Koch return to putting out some
more great Westerns from the Fifties”
John, if you can’t obtain the Koch Border River, I must tell you the French version is also excellent, but you must have a DVD remote control that removes sub titles, as it can’t be done from the DVD menu.
Unfortunately as I’m sure you know, many French DVDs aren’t worldwide friendly.
Thanks Mike I will look out for it on Amazon.
At the moment only the Spanish version seems to
appear on Amazon even in Germany.
The same French company recently put out “Incident At
Phantom Hill” not a great film but a lovely scope
transfer.In any case anything with Dan Duryea is fine by
me!He has no trouble stealin the film from leads Robert
Fuller and Jocelyn Lane.
The packaging on this French series is very nice too!